The Senate resolved into a Committee of the Whole in order to receive the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, P.C., M.P., Minister of Finance and National Revenue, accompanied by at most two officials, to consider the subject matter of Bill C-19, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act.
Senator Miville-Dechêne: Welcome, minister.
Bill C-19 will undoubtedly help families breathe a little easier when doing their grocery shopping. I am delighted about that, of course. However, this policy doesn’t address the root causes of this rapid rise in food prices. There are, of course, causes beyond our control, such as geopolitical tensions and climate change. However, domestically, are there not also grocery chains that are raking in excessive profits? Does our dependence on food imports in winter contribute to inflated prices? What are you doing in this regard to achieve greater affordability?
Mr. Champagne: Thank you, senator. I think you hit on two essential points.
The first is competition. We must always increase competition in the grocery sector.
The second is slightly more direct and immediate measures that are structural. As I was saying, after speaking to Quebec’s Union des producteurs agricoles, we could see that some sectors need structural measures. The $500-million fund will certainly help. We talked about things like slaughterhouses in certain regions, refrigeration and transportation.
The foods that have caused the most inflation are beef, pork, chicken, lettuce, coffee and sugar. Some things will always have to be imported, and that makes us more vulnerable to global fluctuations, such as climate change, exchange rates and trade restrictions. That said, investing in things like our greenhouse production and more resilient supply chains and introducing a grocery code of conduct are some of the measures that will work together to help us become more resilient. It is in the national interest to make the country’s food production and distribution systems much more resilient.
Senator Miville-Dechêne: What will you do in five years? What makes you think that inflation will stabilize or that the poverty rate will fall? It will be hard to turn back the clock.
Mr. Champagne: Indeed. In English we said that we wanted to raise the amount in order to offset the $782 in excess food inflation. At the same time, we provided a bridge. Based on our vision, we are sure that the Canadian economy will have grown by 2030. Economic growth will raise the per capita GDP and create wealth in the country. That was the idea behind the measure.
Senator Miville-Dechêne: Thank you, minister.